District, teachers reach tentative two-year agreement

At midnight on Wednesday in Los Angeles, Ramona Unified School District and Ramona Teachers Association signed a tentative agreement, Superintendent Robert Graeff reports.

“The deal will be complete after both parties ratify on or before June 6,” he said on the district’s Facebook page. “This effort reflects compromise and commitment by both parties in working together on behalf of the students and families of Ramona's public schools.”

The agreement was reached after lengthy talks at a meeting called by the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in Glendale.

“PERB contacted both parties last week believing that an injunction was going to be filed and suggested a settlement conference,” Graeff said Tuesday.

The California Teachers Association filed an injunction on behalf of RTA on Friday.

Details of the tentative agreement are unavailable.

“We are hopeful that the RTA membership will ratify it,” school board president Bob Stoody said in an email early this morning. “(We) cannot currently provide details as we wish to respect the RTA's leadership need to communicate this with its members. I understand that all negotiators (from both sides) are exhausted and are driving back from the PERB office in LA. They apparently all listened to the (Ramona) Parents Coalition and didn't come home until an agreement was reached.”

Also in an email, members of the parents coalition said, “We want to take this time to profusly thank both sides for the difficult choices they certainly had to make. And thank all of you, parents and residents, for your efforts. We had received emails from both sides that our voices were being heard.”

Teachers will learn details of the tentative agreement within the next few days, Donna Braye-Romero, RTA president, said Thursday morning. A general meeting and ratification vote will held held on Tuesday, she said.

The tentative agreement comes after more than 18 months of negotiations, mediation, a PERB-sanctioned hearing, a three-year imposition by the school board calling for an average of 9 percent cuts through the 2014-15 school year, and the threat of a teachers strike.